The past few hours have witnessed widespread human rights criticism of the Egyptian authorities, due to the security persecution of citizens on the basis of their religious beliefs and others because of their activity on social media in what is known as the “Generation Z Group”.
The Supreme State Security Prosecution ordered the detention of 19 Shiite Muslims, including Al-Dustour newspaper journalist Mohamed Haidar, for 15 days pending investigation, while it decided to release one defendant, in connection with case No. 5653 of 2026, Supreme State Security.
The prosecution leveled charges against them ranging from “assuming leadership of a terrorist group, joining it, or financing it.”
Iman Awf, a member of the Journalists Syndicate Council and head of the Freedoms Committee, announced that Haider appeared before the Supreme State Security Prosecution, after three weeks of no news about him.
The prosecution leveled charges against them ranging from “assuming leadership of a terrorist group, joining it, or financing it.”
She said the prosecution had charged Qandil with leading a terrorist group.
The security forces had arrested the defendants on June 24, as part of a security campaign that coincided with the anniversary of Karbala, before they were subjected to enforced disappearance for nearly 20 days inside headquarters belonging to the National Security Service in both Abbasiya and Giza, before they later appeared before the Supreme State Security Prosecution and the investigation with them began.
This was not the first time Haider had been arrested based on his religious identity or because of his journalistic work focusing on the rights of the Shiite minority.
He was arrested in December 2019, forcibly disappeared for three months, during which he was subjected to physical assault and torture, according to human rights organizations. He faced charges of “contempt of religion, spreading Shiism, and establishing an illegal group.”
After his release in August 2020, he was subjected to weekly police surveillance and was arbitrarily prevented from traveling without a court order. In December 2021, after he had obtained an exit stamp from Egypt, a passport officer stopped him and told him to go to the National Security headquarters and request permission to travel, amid instructions to confiscate his passport and prevent him from leaving the country.
The Egyptian Front for Human Rights condemned the targeting of citizens based on their religious beliefs and the use of counter-terrorism laws to prosecute people because of their religious affiliation, which constitutes a clear violation of the freedom of belief and conscience guaranteed under the Egyptian Constitution and international human rights conventions.
She said that the investigations dealt with the defendants’ adoption of the Shiite sect, as the prosecution directed questions about the duration of their adherence to this sect, the places of their meetings, and the nature of their religious practices.
The Egyptian Front for Human Rights condemned the targeting of citizens based on their religious beliefs, and the use of counter-terrorism laws to prosecute people because of their religious affiliation.
It called for the immediate and unconditional release of all detainees, an end to prosecutions based on religious affiliation, and accountability for those responsible for the enforced disappearances they have suffered.
In addition, the Al-Shehab Center for Human Rights called for guarantees of a fair trial and an end to arbitrary arrests in connection with the case known in the media as “Generation Z”.
The center said in a statement that it “is following the rapid developments related to the investigations being conducted by the Supreme State Security Prosecution in cases No. 4753 of 2026 and No. 4487 Supreme State Security.”
He pointed out that “the extensive security campaign during the past week resulted in the detention of 55 people for 15 days, in addition to the issuance of arrest warrants against 80 others, on charges related to digital expression and joining electronic groups calling for peaceful protest against the political and economic conditions.”
According to the center’s documentation, the age groups of those arrested range between 16 and 48 years old, including nine girls, which shows the expansion of the security targeting to include minors and young people.
According to the center, “The investigating authorities in this case are relying on a set of vague charges, centered around joining a group established in violation of the law, using social media to commit terrorist crimes, and communicating with members of that group, charges that are often used to criminalize basic rights.”The center expressed its “condemnation of what was stated in identical testimonies and statements conveyed by members of the defense team, which indicate that a number of the accused were subjected to the crime of enforced disappearance for periods exceeding two full months before they appeared before the prosecution.”
According to the center's documentation, the ages of those arrested range between 16 and 48 years, including nine girls, which illustrates the widening scope of security targeting to include minors and young people.
The center quoted lawyers who spoke about their clients being subjected to beatings, degrading treatment, and physical and psychological coercion to extract confessions and record them in the investigation reports, which represents a flagrant violation of the detainees’ dignity and physical safety.
He pointed out that he had received many complaints from families over the past weeks stating that they had lost all contact with their relatives without knowing where they were being held, and that they were beginning to appear gradually inside the corridors of the Public Prosecution.
He stressed that this systematic behavior disregards the constitutional and legal guarantees established for detainees, foremost among them the right to liberty and personal security, the right to inform their families of their place of detention immediately, and to enable them to communicate with their legal advisors without restriction or delay.
He emphasized that joining digital platforms or interacting with public online content cannot, under any circumstances, be considered material or legal evidence of criminal conduct. The presumption of innocence dictates that an accused person remains innocent until proven guilty in a fair and public trial. Furthermore, international laws and conventions affirm the invalidity of any confessions or measures relied upon if it is proven that they were obtained under torture or physical or psychological coercion.
He called for the immediate release of all those detained on charges of peacefully expressing their opinions through digital platforms, the cancellation of arrest warrants issued against others, an urgent and transparent investigation into allegations of enforced disappearance and physical and psychological torture to which the accused were subjected, holding those involved legally accountable, excluding any confessions proven to have been extracted under duress or during the period of unlawful detention (enforced disappearance), and guaranteeing the constitutional guarantees for detainees by enabling them to immediately communicate with their families and lawyers, and respecting their right to physical and psychological safety.Meanwhile, Hilal Abdel Hamid, founder of the Democratic Front, said that he was informed of the arrest of Mohamed Zahran, founder of the “Independence” teachers’ movement and agent of the founders of the “Egyptian Democratic Front” party, known as the “candidate of the poor,” from his home last night.
He added in a post on his Facebook account that, according to the information he received, Zahran was arrested from his home at around 9 pm, before being taken to an unknown location.
Human rights lawyer Khaled Ali said that Zahran’s arrest came in response to his explicit call for teachers to hold a meeting next Saturday to discuss the legal mechanisms necessary to implement the final court rulings obtained by Zahran, which stipulate the need to hold elections for the Teachers Syndicate, in an effort to end the state of guardianship imposed on the syndicate for a period exceeding ten full years.
Zahran's arrest comes in the wake of his explicit call for teachers to hold a meeting next Saturday.
Last March, the Supreme State Security Prosecution decided to release Zahran on bail of ten thousand pounds after investigating him on charges related to “broadcasting false news, statements and rumors outside and inside Egypt that would harm the public interest and weaken the prestige of the state.”
The prosecution informed Zahran at the time that three teachers had filed reports accusing him of “spreading false news” on the social networking site Facebook in order to “stir up chaos in the country and undermine the Teachers Syndicate and state institutions.”
The prosecution explained during the investigation that the investigations of the security sector of the Ministry of Interior regarding the aforementioned reports proved the validity of the incident.
This was not the first time that Zahran had been subjected to legal prosecution for exercising his constitutional right to union work and freedom of expression, as the Supreme State Security Prosecution had previously investigated him and ordered his detention in connection with Case No. 880 of 2020 and Case No. 2123 of 2023 before releasing him.
Last Monday, the Court of Cassation decided to postpone the hearing of the appeal submitted by Zahran against the results of the House of Representatives elections in the Matareya district, to a session on September 21, in order to bring in the voter lists and the tally records.Zahran had previously filed an appeal against the decision of the National Elections Authority to announce the results of the tenth district in Cairo Governorate, based in Matareya, which resulted in the victory of Wael Al-Tahhan, basing his appeal on what he described as the existence of violations that marred the electoral process.
